Rowers race facing backward. You can move forward without seeing the finish line.

Visible progress and actual progress are not the same requirement. A rower has no view of where they are going and arrives anyway, because the work does not depend on watching the destination. Plenty of worthwhile things are like that. You cannot see the end, and looking for it is not what moves you along; the stroke is the part you have access to.

Define the next piece of work in terms of what you can see from where you are. Today’s session, this week’s chapter, this month’s savings. Let the destination be something you check occasionally rather than stare at.